Methods and Apparatus to Monitor Environments

1. A method for audience measurement comprising: obtaining media identifying information corresponding to media content displayed on a media presentation device in a media exposure environment of a household having multiple audience members; capturing, using an image capturing device in the media exposure environment, a plurality of three-dimensional data points and a plurality of two-dimensional data points; determining that a portion of the plurality of the three-dimensional data points comprises depth values within a threshold distance from the image capturing device, wherein the threshold distance from the image capturing device corresponds to a portion of the media exposure environment of the household having the multiple audience members; executing a three-dimensional recognition analysis on the portion of the three-dimensional data points; triggering, in response to the three-dimensional recognition analysis, execution of a two-dimensional recognition analysis of at least a portion of the plurality of the two-dimensional data points; determining, using the three-dimensional recognition analysis and the two-dimensional recognition analysis, which of the audience members are present in the media exposure environment; and transmitting, to a data collections facility of an audience measurement entity, for each of one or more of the audience members that are present in the media exposure environment, a respective audience member identifier and the media identifying information to generate ratings for the media content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the media exposure environment is a first portion of the media exposure environment, and wherein triggering the execution of the two-dimensional recognition analysis occurs in response to the three-dimensional recognition analysis determining at least one audience member is beyond the threshold distance in a second portion of the media exposure environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the media exposure environment is a first portion; and wherein the two-dimensional recognition analysis selects a targeted scan of a portion of the plurality of two-dimensional data points corresponding to a second portion of the media exposure environment extending beyond the threshold distance.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two-dimensional recognition analysis selects a full scan of the media exposure environment from the plurality of two-dimensional data points.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying an output of the two-dimensional recognition analysis to determine which type of two-dimensional recognition analysis was triggered; and storing, for each of the one or more of the audience members that are present in the media exposure environment, the respective audience member identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a first type of two-dimensional recognition analysis is based on capturing the plurality of the two-dimensional data points for the media exposure environment, and wherein a second type of the two-dimensional recognition analysis is based on capturing the plurality of two-dimensional data points for a subset of the media exposure environment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the image capturing device comprises a two-dimensional sensor and a three-dimensional sensor.

8. A computing system, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising: capturing, using an image capturing device in a media exposure environment, a plurality of three-dimensional data points and a plurality of two-dimensional data points; determining that a portion of the plurality of the three-dimensional data points comprises depth values within a threshold distance from the image capturing device, wherein the threshold distance from the image capturing device corresponds to a portion of the media exposure environment of a household having multiple audience members; executing a three-dimensional recognition analysis on the portion of the three-dimensional data points; triggering, in response to the three-dimensional recognition analysis, execution of a two-dimensional recognition analysis of at least a portion of the plurality of the two-dimensional data points; determining, using the three-dimensional recognition analysis and the two-dimensional recognition analysis, which of the audience members are present in the media exposure environment; and storing, for each of one or more of the audience members that are present in the media exposure environment, a respective audience member identifier.

9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the portion of the media exposure environment is a first portion of the media exposure environment, and wherein triggering the execution of the two-dimensional recognition analysis occurs in response to a time interval elapsing and the three-dimensional recognition analysis determining that at least one audience member is beyond the threshold distance in a second portion of the media exposure environment.

10. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the portion of the media exposure environment is a first portion; and wherein the two-dimensional recognition analysis selects a targeted scan of a portion of the plurality of two-dimensional data points corresponding to a second portion of the media exposure environment extending beyond the threshold distance.

11. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the two-dimensional recognition analysis selects a full scan of the media exposure environment from the plurality of two-dimensional data points.

12. The computing system of claim 8, the set of operations further comprising: identifying an output of the two-dimensional recognition analysis to determine which type of two-dimensional recognition analysis was triggered.

13. The computing system of claim 12, wherein a first type of two-dimensional recognition analysis is based on capturing the plurality of the two-dimensional data points for the media exposure environment, and wherein a second type of the two-dimensional recognition analysis is based on capturing the plurality of two-dimensional data points for a subset of the media exposure environment.

14. The computing system of claim 8, the set of operations further comprising: obtaining media identifying information corresponding to media content displayed on a media presentation device in the media exposure environment of the household having the multiple audience members; and transmitting, to a data collections facility of an audience measurement entity, for each of the one or more of the audience members that are present in the media exposure environment, the respective audience member identifier and the media identifying information to generate ratings for the media content.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon program instructions that, upon execution by a processor, cause performance of a set of operations comprising: obtaining media identifying information corresponding to media content displayed on a media presentation device in a media exposure environment of a household having multiple audience members; capturing, using an image capturing device in the media exposure environment, a plurality of three-dimensional data points and a plurality of two-dimensional data points; determining that a portion of the plurality of the three-dimensional data points comprises depth values within a threshold distance from the image capturing device, wherein the threshold distance from the image capturing device corresponds to a portion of the media exposure environment of the household having the multiple audience members; executing a three-dimensional recognition analysis on the portion of the three-dimensional data points; triggering, in response to the three-dimensional recognition analysis, execution of a two-dimensional recognition analysis of at least a portion of the plurality of the two-dimensional data points; determining, using the three-dimensional recognition analysis and the two-dimensional recognition analysis, which of the audience members are present in the media exposure environment; and transmitting, to a data collections facility of an audience measurement entity, for each of one or more of the audience members that are present in the media exposure environment, a respective audience member identifier and the media identifying information to generate ratings for the media content.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein a meter obtains the media identifying information; and wherein the image capturing device comprises a three-dimensional sensor and a two-dimensional sensor.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the portion of the media exposure environment is a first portion; and wherein the two-dimensional recognition analysis selects a targeted scan of a portion of the plurality of two-dimensional data points corresponding to a second portion of the media exposure environment extending beyond the threshold distance.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the two-dimensional recognition analysis selects a full scan of the media exposure environment from the plurality of two-dimensional data points.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the set of operations further comprising: identifying an output of the two-dimensional recognition analysis to determine which type of two-dimensional recognition analysis was triggered.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein a first type of two-dimensional recognition analysis is based on capturing the plurality of the two-dimensional data points for the media exposure environment, and wherein a second type of the two-dimensional recognition analysis is based on capturing the plurality of two-dimensional data points for the portion of the media exposure environment.